Social media applications and tools.

June 27, 2010

SocialShield (rant)

Parenting Tool, Teens and Kids' Internet Safety, Cyber Bullying. Jeez, I really hate this kind of sh*tty software. It immediately starts with the fear angle 'We know you worry' 'We were shocked to see how many of her friends were adults we didn't even know!'. Then we get into the scare stories 'would you like to know when an adult tries to be your kids friend on Facebook, MySpace or Twitter?' (Hint here - they can't)

Finally, into the nitty gritty 'I used to spend hours each week monitoring her social networking activities. Now, in just a few clicks I'm totally updated. Katy C., Arizona'. Here's a clue for you Katy, instead of spending 10 bucks a month on software designed to spy on your kids, how about you take that money, and take her out, treat her to something nice, learn what she's interested in, provide guidance and advice and act like a responsible parent instead of letting some bit of software try and do it for you?

Not only that, it also tries to spy on your children's friends. In fact, they boast that it 'takes an extensive look at all of your kid's friends'. So we've got this software sniffing around other kids now - there's a word for that kind of behaviour isn't there?